If you watch Saturday Night Live (SNL), then you know that they often do comedy sketches about travel. Who could forget Adam Driver’s hilarious airplane baby skit or the Alaska Airlines skit that was full of zingers.
This week’s skit starred Jake Gyllenhaal, playing Reginald Keane, who was trying to change a Southwest Airlines (SWA) flight and it snowballed from there. The first of many SWA employees he spoke to was Zachary (pronounced Zack Cray) played by Mikey Day. For starters, the automated system registered Reginald Keane’s name as Vaginald Cream and he can’t get it corrected, a gag that runs through the whole skit
Zachary apologizes to Mr. Cream (Reginald) for losing his luggage but Reginald tries to explain that he didn’t lose his luggage, he’s just trying to change his Denver to New York flight to the next day. Zachary tells him the flight is full and only standby is available. When Reginald tries to clarify that standby means he’s not guaranteed to get on the flight, Zachary says, “no, you’ll be on the flight, you’ll just have to stand by the bathroom the whole time.”
Reginald says he will just try and book another airline and to cancel his flight for a refund. And this is where things get pretty relatable. Zachary says, “No.” He later says, “we are trained to say no just to see if people accept it. But I see that you won’t so I will transfer you to someone who can assist.”
The sketch if funny but also a bit painful to watch since it brings back memories of trying to get a hold of an airline’s customer service to do something simple and they keep putting you on hold and then transferring you. I swear companies do this just so their customers give up and forget about it. Watch the skit below:
This is definitely not one of SNL’s funniest travel skits but but the comments are the reason for the post. Many thought it was spot on.
@Tiniestwombat: I’ve lived this. This isn’t a sketch. This is reality.
@zeroshadow2468: This is exactly what it feels like to cancel a flight at Southwest. This is not a sketch, it’s a documentary.
@laalaa99stl: “Like riding a city bus” captures the Southwest ethos pretty well.
@batgurrl: Jake’s facial expressions were subtle but hilarious. Excellent cancellation parody. More like a documentary. Bowen and Kenan coming in at the end was perfection.
This isn’t the first time SNL has poked fun at Southwest Airlines. They did it last year in this hilarious skit and I have a feeling they will probably make one again next year.
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I can relate, except not with Southwest. I cancel and change flights with them dozens of times a year and it easy and costs nothing, however I do it online because it’s so easy. With other airlines it would make a lot more sense.
I agree 100% with Marlin. I do it all the time hassle free.